My HCG Experience

Round 2 VLCD Day 1!

2008-05-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here we go again!

I started my injections for round 2 on Tuesday, April 29. I felt so full during my entire two load days, but I didn't gain as much as last time around. My round 1 load days gained me 5 pounds, round 2 only 3.4 pounds (160.2 -> 163.6). The funny thing is, this morning I got up at 7:15 to do my injection and weighed in at 163.6, which I'm counting as my official post-load start weight, and then I went back to sleep and woke up again around 10:30am, and weighed myself and was already down to 162.8, haha... The first day of VLCD is the best. :)

I haven't eaten much today. I had some beef for lunch and then a mid-afternoon apple, but then I went to work and won't be home until about 8:30pm. I'm afraid to skip meals because I learned last time around that not getting enough protein actually sets me back, so I think I'll cook up a little bit of chicken when I get home. I also haven't been drinking enough water today! But I still have a few hours to get some more in me! (Hopefully I won't be running to the bathroom all night! haha)

Anyway, it's going well so far and I feel good. I already feel like I've lost weight today. Psychological or real I wonder? Hmm :) I can't wait to weigh in tomorrow morning!

Round 2

2008-04-08T02:01:00.001-07:00

Just so you all know, I'm planning on doing a second round. I've maintained easily around 161, but Ashley and I ordered another round and she started her load days today. I am taking my fiance home to meet the family in a couple weeks and I don't want to be on the VLCD at that time so I'm going to start as soon as I get back, probably the 29th of April. And I'll try to make another video log of my second round. I'm also planning on going to the Philippines for an internship June 24 so I will only have about 33 days of P2 if I want to have P3 finished by the time I go there, so that's my plan. Last time I did 36 days so it's all good. I think I'll get down to around 145 and then maintain at 150. So keep an eye out for my round 2 updates and we'll see what happens!

Phases 3 and 4 in a nutshell...

2008-02-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

First of all, my body kinda freaked out when I suddenly started eating things it wasn't used to having in large portions... Specifically DAIRY, haha... and also, I soon started eating things with artificial sweeteners (like sugar free chocolates!) and it wasn't until after I had been eating them a lot for a week or two that I read up on it and realized that artificial sweeteners cause gas and bloating! I didn't even know that! So with all the dairy and artificial sweeteners I was eating, no wonder my body was not feeling so well! lol... But I've stopped eating artificial sweeteners and cut back on dairy and I feel fine now. I eat regular sugars now but I just try to limit myself. I still eat sweets but I find that I am satisfied with less than I was before P2, and I crave sweets less often. So that's good.

As far as weight goes...

I stuck fairly well (but not perfectly) to P3 for the first three weeks off the VLCD, and had to do a few steak days (like I said, I wasn't being 100% strict so I went up a few times), but they worked! By late in the third week I felt like I had stablized between 157-158 (2-3 lbs over LIW) and I started getting overconfident... I have a bad habit of getting overconfident! haha... It has now been a couple more weeks since then and I started eating literally ANYTHING I wanted, and a lot of it, and I gained back a little, but I started identifying my problems and adjusted some things and been hovering around 161-162 now. But that's still a good 15-20 lbs below my starting weight so I'm fine with it for now.

For example, I figured out that I can eat a LOT in the first half of the day, and if I eat enough that I'm not hungry at dinnertime so I skip dinner, I never gain the next day and sometimes I'm even down nearly a pound. So I think that's one of my personal issues~ I cannot eat late at night. The earlier in the day I stop eating (no matter how much I eat in the early hours) the better. Also, I make sure I get enough protein during the day. I try to have a significant source of protein with each meal. I haven't been drinking water like I did on P2, but I should be. I want to establish that habit again because it's helpful and very good for you.

Having gone through it and looking at my own experience in retrospect, my BIGGEST ADVICE FOR PHASES 3 AND 4 are:
* Stick strictly to the P3 diet for at LEAST three weeks! Wait until you have been stable for a while before moving onto P4
* When you do move on to P4, introduce sugars and starches back into your diet GRADUALLY... I did it way too fast and ended up "stablizing" at 6-7 pounds over my LIW instead of 2.
* Get plenty of protein. Not that you have to go Adkins or anything, just ry to eat protein with every meal.
* Don't eat late. The earlier in the day you stop eating the better.
*** Listen to your body and figure out what works for you! Everybody (and every BODY) reacts slightly differently to differnt things, so be aware of what and when you eat and figure out what causes your body to react in certain ways. Then adjust your habits accordingly.

I don't have any regrets. I'm so glad I was introduced to this protocol. My friend Ashley and I ordered some more and we're going to do another round. We already received the supplies in the mail and we're just waiting on the hcg, which should be here any day now! We'll get closer to our goal weights, if not reach them, this time around. And now that we've been through it once before, we have a much better idea of how to optimize our results the second time around (or so we think!)! So hopefully it will be a successful journey in round 2! I'll blog about this one too! :D

Yay hcg! I love you! You know, one reason I love being on P2 is because every day feels like Christmas... every morning when I wake up I'm excited to weigh in and see what I've lost!

Oh, and one more thing... I'M RECENTLY ENGAGED!!! :D I'm getting married this August in Laie, Hawaii. I'm so excited! And I found hcg just in time to turn into a knockout before my big day! CHEEHOO!!! :D

Phase 3 Day 1!

2008-01-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)
Dec 18 __ 179.8 __ Post-Load Start Weight (start VLCD)
Dec 19 __ 175.2 __ (-4.6) yes!
Dec 20 __ 172.4 __ (-2.8)
Dec 21 __ 170.0 __ (-2.4)
Dec 22 __ 168.0 __ (-2.0)
Dec 23 __ 167.0 __ (-1.0) I CHEATED big time this day
Dec 24 __ 167.0 __ No Gain!! Whew!! :D
Dec 25 __ 165.8 __ (-1.2) Merry Christmas to me! hehe
Dec 26 __ 165.8 __ (-0.0)
Dec 27 __ 164.6 __ (-1.2) (TOM)
Dec 28 __ 163.4 __ (-1.2) (TOM)
Dec 29 __ 163.2 __ (-0.2) (TOM)
Dec 30 __ 163.4 __ (+0.2)
Dec 31 __ 162.2 __ (-1.2) Cheehoo! Broke the plateau!
Jan 01 __ 162.6 __ (+0.4)
Jan 02 __ 161.8 __ (-0.8)
Jan 03 __ 161.8 __ (-0.0)
Jan 04 __ 161.2 __ (-0.6)
Jan 05 __ 160.8 __ (-0.4)
Jan 06 __ 160.4 __ (-0.4) fasting/ate one apple
Jan 07 __ 159.0 __ (-1.4)
Jan 08 __ 159.8 __ (+0.8) What??? I even skipped dinner last night :(
Jan 09 __ 158.4 __ (-1.4) cheehoo!!
Jan 10 __ 158.6 __ (+0.2) oiaue~
Jan 11 __ ????? __ didn't have a scale this day
Jan 12 __ 156.4 __ (-2.2) (in 2 days)
Jan 13 __ 157.4 __ (+1.0) what the heck... maybe cuz i ate 2 oranges
Jan 14 __ 156.0 __ (-1.4) back on track
Jan 15 __ 156.4 __ (+0.4) :(
Jan 16 __ 156.0 __ (-0.4)
Jan 17 __ ????? __ no scale
Jan 18 __ 156.0 __
Jan 19 __ 155.2 __ (-0.8) yay a little extra last minute loss! ^.^
Jan 20 __ 155.0 __ (-0.2) MY LIW!

Jan 21 __ 155.2 __
Jan 22 __ 155.6 __

PHASE 3
-----------
Jan 23 __ 155.4 __

Total Loss: 24.9 lbs
Loss per day Average: 0.75 lbs ~~ Not Bad! ~~

Here we go! Phase 3!! :D Cheehoo! My LIW was 155.0, so that means during phase 3 I should stay between 153 and 157. Hopefully I won't have to do any steak days but if I do, at least there is such a thing as steak days to fix it! :) Today was my first day off the VLCD, and I was excited about it! For breakfast I cooked myself an omelette with cheese, chicken, tomatoes and onion. It was good!! For lunch I had some tuna with a little bit of cheese on miracle noodles (that may sound weird but Ashley and I always used to eat tuna and cheese on rice, so I cut up the noodles to sub as rice). I also had some strawberries this morning and an orange this afternoon. I know I should be careful with the fruits. If I have a gain tomorrow, the first thing I will change will be to try having only 1 fruit a day. I want to make sure I'm eating 1500 calories a day so that my hypothalmus doesn't reset my body to want just 1000 a day, which is some advice I read on one of the online forums. I feel so full though. I had breakfast at 9am, strawberries at about 12, I didn't want lunch until about 3:30 but then I had the tuna mix and an orange together, and now it's 5:15pm and I'm still feel really full (probably some thanks to the miracle noodles). I'm not sure if I got enough protein today. And I have no idea how many calories I ate today either. I don't want to eat too much since I feel so full, but I think the lunch I just ate was about 400 cals total... I doubt my omelette was more than 600 cals, so I'm probably still under 1000 but I really don't know. I should become more educated on how many calories different foods have in general so I don't have to look it up every time I eat (because I won't). Maybe tonight I'll scramble another egg and have it with some organic salsa or something, to make sure I'm getting enough protein. I've heard that enough protein and water, and low sweet fruits, are the keys to an easy phase 3. I was even thinking about getting a protein powder supplement. I'll see how it goes, and how difficult it seems for me to get enough on my own.

I was so excited to use CONDITIONER and HAIR CREAM and LOTION this morning!!! hehe... made my day. I have gone without them for nearly 6 weeks! It's good to know the hcg is out of my system and I can use them again!! Woo hoo!

Life is good. I'm SO GLAD I DID THIS PROTOCOL. I feel great about myself, started the new year RIGHT, and since I feel good in general I feel better about all aspects of life. I'm taking more initiative in my life and I'm HAPPY! :D I even met someone and am in a new relationship, and he's AMAZING and it could turn out to be a life-long thing! :D Wow thank you Dr. Simeons!

Day 28 VLCD - Total Loss: 23.8 lbs

2008-01-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)
Dec 18 __ 179.8 __ Post-Load Start Weight (start VLCD)
Dec 19 __ 175.2 __ (-4.6) yes!
Dec 20 __ 172.4 __ (-2.8)
Dec 21 __ 170.0 __ (-2.4)
Dec 22 __ 168.0 __ (-2.0)
Dec 23 __ 167.0 __ (-1.0) I CHEATED big time this day
Dec 24 __ 167.0 __ No Gain!! Whew!! :D
Dec 25 __ 165.8 __ (-1.2) Merry Christmas to me! hehe
Dec 26 __ 165.8 __ (-0.0)
Dec 27 __ 164.6 __ (-1.2) (TOM)
Dec 28 __ 163.4 __ (-1.2) (TOM)
Dec 29 __ 163.2 __ (-0.2) (TOM)
Dec 30 __ 163.4 __ (+0.2)
Dec 31 __ 162.2 __ (-1.2) Cheehoo! Broke the plateau!
Jan 01 __ 162.6 __ (+0.4)
Jan 02 __ 161.8 __ (-0.8)
Jan 03 __ 161.8 __ (-0.0)
Jan 04 __ 161.2 __ (-0.6)
Jan 05 __ 160.8 __ (-0.4)
Jan 06 __ 160.4 __ (-0.4) fasting/ate one apple
Jan 07 __ 159.0 __ (-1.4)
Jan 08 __ 159.8 __ (+0.8) What??? I even skipped dinner last night :(
Jan 09 __ 158.4 __ (-1.4) cheehoo!!
Jan 10 __ 158.6 __ (+0.2) oiaue~
Jan 11 __ ????? __ didn't have a scale this day
Jan 12 __ 156.4 __ (-2.2) (in 2 days)
Jan 13 __ 157.4 __ (+1.0) what the heck... maybe cuz i ate 2 oranges
Jan 14 __ 156.0 __ (-1.4) back on track

Total Loss So Far: 23.8 lbs
Loss per day Average: 0.88 lbs

Well things have slowed down a lot recently but I'm sill on a gradual downhill so that's alright. I've got six more injection days to go! My ultimate goal weight is 145, and my goal for this P2 was 150... I have six pounds left for that, and six days to go, but my loss per day average hasn't been a whole pound for a couple weeks now... but who knows, miracles happen! ^.^ I'm going to try to make the most of this last week. Also, a week or so I started eating oranges as my fruit and found that it was not so good for my weight loss, especially on a day when I ate oranges for both of my daily fruits. I think that was Jan 7, and as you can see I was up 0.8 the next day. So I'm going to stick to apples and strawberries the rest of P2. Another thing, I finally received my miracle noodles that I ordered online! It took longer than it should have to get them because my post office somehow misplaced it within the mail room and then finally found it two weeks later and called me in... oish... but I've had them a few times now and they're pretty good. I find that when I eat my lunch with the miracle noodles I don't even want dinner that day because I stay full for a long time. I usually just have my second fruit in the late afternoon or evening, as long as it's at least three hours before I go to bed. I would recommend the noodles to anyone who has a hard time with the boring P2 diet! So far I haven't really done anything interesting with them... The first time I just ate them with some beef, nothing special, then I had lettuce wraps with the noodles and chicken (that was good), and once I had them with beef again but I cut them up into smaller pieces so it wasn't like eating such big, long noodles. (They are really long.) Maybe I'll look up someone's recipes for them someday and try them out! Like spaghetti and meatballs or pasta primavera~ I've seen recipes for both of those out there! Yumm...:D One more week of P2 to go!!

Day 21 VLCD - Total Loss: 20.8 lbs

2008-01-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Day 18 VLCD - Total Loss: 18.6 lbs

2008-01-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

Day 14 VLCD - Total Loss: 17.6 lbs

2007-12-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

Day 11 VLCD - Total Loss: 16.4 lbs

2007-12-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

Day 8 VLCD - Total Loss: 14 lbs

2007-12-25T09:01:00.001-08:00

Day 5 VLCD - Total Loss: 11.8 lbs

2007-12-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)
Dec 18 __ 179.8 __ Post-Load Start Weight (start VLCD)
Dec 19 __ 175.2 __ (-4.6) yes!
Dec 20 __ 172.4 __ (-2.8)
Dec 21 __ 170.0 __ (-2.4)
Dec 22 __ 168.0 __ (-2.0)

Total Loss So Far: 11.8 lbs
Loss per day Average: 2.95 lbs

I've only been eating one apple a day instead of two because I feel like I just don't need it. I also Haven't experienced a single headache through the protocol so far! My first two mornings I felt pretty hungry in the mornings, but by the third day it was subsiding and now I'm just not hungry at all. I took my apple with me when I went out this morning but it's now 4:15pm and I still haven't eaten it because I just don't feel like it. I'm nervous because Ashley and I are staying with a family in Maui right now, and she' making a family turkey dinner for us all tomorrow... we finally told her this morning about our diet and I'm afraid she was offended so I told her that homemade turkey dinner is my favorite and I think I will break my diet for just one night... I know how detrimental even a slight deviation can be on this protocol but she planned this dinner while we would be here for something special, and other people don't understand how much of an effect one deviation can be to us. So, I'm planning on not eating anything tomorrow until dinnertime, and then I'll just eat the smallest portions I can indiscreetly. So we'll see how it goes! It's only my fifth day of the diet today and so far I haven't lost less than 2 pounds in a day. I don't know if that will be good because it gives me a little buffer to work against, or bad because it means I'm really sensitive and can lose and gain really quickly... I'm nervous but I'm going to do it. I'll post about how it turns out! Wish me luck!

Day 4 VLCD - Total Loss: 9.8 lbs

2007-12-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)
Dec 18 __ 179.8 __ Post-Load Start Weight (start VLCD)
Dec 19 __ 175.2 __ (-4.6) yes!
Dec 20 __ 172.4 __ (-2.8)
Dec 21 __ 170.0 __ (-2.4)

Total Loss So Far: 9.8 lbs
Loss per day Average: 3.27 lbs

Wow this is amazing! I lost another 2.4 pounds so I'm down a total of 9.8 pounds in three days! Ashley and I went to Maui yesterday morning so we've been doing this protocol travel style but it's working! I think being on vacation helps us keep our minds busy so we're not sitting at home looking at food in the house all day. It's tough sometimes wanting to stop at L&L or Taco Bell or something for a quick good bite, but we just have to push the cravings out of our minds. We're cooking our meats in the morning and we take our daily food with us when we go out, and then we come home late at night, so that the family we're staying with won't offer us a meal. We just tell them we already ate. I think we're going to have to tell them though today because the mother of the house told us last night that she's going to cook a family turkey dinner on Sunday. Uh oh... we have to tell her or we're going to be set way back. Sheesh home-cooked turkey dinner is my FAVORITE and I don't want to be rude by refusing, but we really can't afford to eat that kind of dinner even one night. Oish... it won't be fun explaining to her what we're doing but we gotta do what we gotta do... Yay for progress though!! Keep it coming! Tomorrow I should be in the 160's!! :D

Day 2 VLCD

2007-12-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)
Dec 18 __ 179.8 __ Post-Load Start Weight (start VLCD)
Dec 19 __ 175.2 __ (-4.6) yes!

It's working! Yesterday was my first day on the very low calorie diet. It wasn't bad at all. I had a cup of green tea in the morning (I don't even like tea or I would drink more), then ate an apple around 10:30am. I was going to have lunch at about 12:30 but I was busy cleaning the house and didn't really get around to it until 1:30 when I finally started to feel a little bit hungry, just enough to make me remember to eat. I had chicken and lettuce for lunch. I had two cups of chammomile tea in the afternoon which I much prefer over the green tea. Then I had dinner, beef and celery (YUM it was good!), at 4:40pm because I had to be at work at 5, so that was a little earlier than I normally would eat dinner, but I didn't want to eat after work and then go to bed with food in my stomach. I never really felt hunger pangs (except a little when I it got to be 1:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch yet), but I felt kind of empty throughout the day, and a little slow both mentally and physically. Maybe it's just my body's response from the sudden change in food intake. When I rested for a while, like watching a movie on the couch, then I felt better physically. I was tempted to eat things throughout the day when I was home, not out of hunger, but simply out of habit because I didn't feel full. I think it will take a little time but I will break that psychological habit. I was nervous about whether I was doing everything right or if I was messing it up in any way. For example, I washed tons of dishes yesterday so I had my hands in soapy water for a long time, and then afterwards I realized I don't know if dish soap had a negative reaction on the hcg or not and I started to get worried. But apparently it's okay because I was down 4.6 pounds this morning from yesterday!! So now I'm only .4 pounds over my initial starting weight, which I expect to surpass tomorrow, and then I'm right on track. :) It works!!! :D

Day 1 VLCD

2007-12-18T08:46:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)
Dec 18 __ 179.8 __ Post-Load Start Weight (start VLCD)

Oh man, I ate a lot yesterday. I wanted to make sure I "ate to capacity" so I would feel less hunger and have more success like Dr. Simeons talks about in his "Pounds and Inches" protocol. Well, I definitely ate to capacity. I still feel really blehhh full this morning. I just woke up and emptied my bladder and weighed myself, and came in at... dun dun dun... 179.8! Oh my heck. I gained 5 pounds over the two load days!! That's sick. This is the most I've ever weighed in my life. So I guess this is technically my start weight. I can't wait to get going with the VLCD so I can feel better. A few days from now I should be back down to where I was before and on the one-way road to Skinnyville! Cheehoo!! hehe.... So I guess that's all for today. I hope my amazing loading really makes a difference in my first week! Today will be my first experience with the VLCD. Wish me luck!

Day 2 Load Day

2007-12-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)
Dec 17 __ 176.0 __ (Load)

I expected to absolutely love the load days, but I was very surprised that for most of the day I was forcing myself to eat. I just didn't feel like eating. I don't know if it was psychological or what, because I didn't think the hcg was supposed to be into your bloodstream taking affect yet, but regardless of what was the cause, I was surprised how not hungry I was all day! Ashley tells me she felt the same way on her two load days but once the diet started she did feel a little hungry once in a while, but nothing unbearable. I expect it will be the same for me. I weighed in today 1.8 lbs higher than yesterday. Tomorrow morning will be my official post-load starting weight. I can't wait! :D

Introduction & Day 1 Load Day

2007-12-16T09:48:00.000-08:00

Height: 5'9"
Weight:
Dec 16 __ 174.8 __ Pre-Load Weight (Load)

Aloha!! :)
I've always been very skeptical of any kind of diet fad or extreme weight loss program because I feel like I could never keep one of those up for very long, and as soon as I went off of it I would start a nasty counter-productive cycle of yo-yo dieting. I've been weight-conscious since I started gaining in high school (I'm now 20, so about 5 years or so), but I've never done much about it other than just trying to watch my intake of sweets a little, but even then nothing adequate for a real "diet." My friend Ashley was recently given Kevin Trudeau's book, The Weight Loss Cure and we started reading it together. When we got to the part that actually described the protocol and diet requirements we were both really disappointed, and I thought it was a load of bull honestly, not something the average American could or would want to do. If it had been only me, I would have probably thrown the idea out the window and never looked back, but Ashley started researching HCG online and read up on Dr. Simeon's version of the protocol. I couldn't believe she was actually considering doing it. I started researching it myself and became more and more interested as I realized it was not only possible, but not nearly as difficult as I had thought, and probably as good as Kevin Trudeau says it is. Hmm... maybe it really is a weight loss "cure" as opposed to a diet. Finally we decided to do it, and we ordered our HCG from www.hcgweight.com. It came quicker than we expected in the mail. Ashley started her injections this past Wednesday, December 12, but I wanted to wait until the weekend so I wouldn't have to stress about getting started while I was in the middle of finals. So Ashley has been on the injections for 5 days now, and today is the third day of the VLCD. This morning I did my first injection. I then weighed myself and came in at 174.8. I will post before and after pictures once I make some visible progress! Part of the reason I was willing to do the protocol is because of the great results pictures I saw of others, so maybe mine will contribute to someone else's decision once they see my upcoming new sexy body! hehe...

I wish I could fast forward a month and a half but for these results I guess its worth the wait. :) Here we go!...